I wanted to buy a house at Man Utd but Sir Alex Ferguson wouldn’t let me until I took three months of cooking lessons

SIR ALEX FERGUSON was known for being very particular with his managerial approach, even when it came to matters off-pitch.

In the early 2000s, Daniel Nardiello was coming through the ranks at Manchester United and soon wanted to get himself on the property ladder.

However, Ferguson’s iron fist at Old Trafford meant Nardiello would first need to obtain permission.

And when he asked the boss whether he could buy a house, Ferguson denied his request until he had taken some cooking lessons.

Speaking to the Daily Star, Nardiello explained: “I had my first three years at United, I’d done quite well in the youth teams and reserve level and Sir Alex offered me a three-year contract, which I was obviously going to take.

“But with the new contract and my time at the digs coming to an end, I wanted to buy my own property, my own house to live in.

“But youth players need to have permission, so I had to knock on the door to ask if I can buy my own property.

“He was like ‘No, I’m not letting you buy your own property unless you’ve had three months of cooking lessons with the chef at Carrington’.

“So for three months, a couple of times a week, I was out cooking all the food for the first team players. I was in a bit earlier than I would normally be to help the chef.

“Once the three months were up, I knocked on the gaffer’s door again and he allowed me to pursue buying a home and moving in to my own house.

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“But it goes to show the level of detail he went into.”

Nardiello would only go on to make four appearances for the Red Devils, one of which came in the Champions League, before leaving the club permanently in 2004.

The now-retired 40-year-old added: “He wanted to make sure the club was run properly from top to bottom, wanted to look after his players, making sure they had the best start.

“I’m not a good cook now though. My wife doesn’t want my cooking, it’s once in a blue moon I cook, but it did give me a good grounding.”

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk